A big misconception applicants have is around the value of an Admissions Consultant.
I get this question quite a lot – are you an MBA?
The question shows that the applicant is at the early stage of researching consultants.
Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)
Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India, shares his American dream by reflecting on his entrepreneurial experiences in India and contrasting them with the support offered by the American VC ecosystem.
Curiosity: Culture
This is the #1 mistake I see while editing resumes of high-performing applicants. These are your typical Type A candidates who truly have achievements in the top 1 or top 5%, but they also have experiences as individual contributors that are not as significant. But it had a huge impact on the learning curve and their growth as a specialist.
I see 3 insecurities that are driving the exaggeration.
Over the past 10 years, I have seen so many interesting dynamics between supervisors and applicants from technology, military, investment banking, marketing, consulting, and engineering backgrounds. Each interaction I had as part of F1GMAT's Recommendation Letter Editing Service has given me insights into following certain best practices.
Keep these 5 best practices in mind
This Strategy is not for those who are only targeting HSW schools. That is Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. The Strategy applies to anyone who thinks that HSW schools are stretch schools and require considerable planning.
Let’s go back to the 2:3 or the 3:2 Strategy
Typically, applicants target 5 to 7 schools. Of the seven schools, 5 are schools in the top 10, with 2 or 3 from Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. A big mistake that applicants make is to target Harvard and Stanford in one round itself.
I was watching “The Man Who Would Be King,” where two earnest small-time charlatans planned to take over a distant kingdom and rule it in 19th-century India. The audacity of the goal made me laugh. But there was sincerity and preparation for achieving the goal that turned around my belief that maybe the two ordinary blokes could achieve this.
By the middle of the movie, I was guessing different paths by which they would be king.
And it took just one sequence – a journey through the Khyber Pass and a tough winter.
For anyone in Finance, Technology or Consulting, this exercise might seem counterintuitive but the best way to improve you chance of writing memorable essays is not to write less but write at least 2000 words even if the word count of your school essays is 250 to 500 words.
For applicants, consider these 3 factors:
When I reach out to clients to check on the progress of their MBA essays, they often complain about the biggest obstacle – how should I reflect and capture the pivotal events in my life?
Before you trivialize or dramatize any event from your life, follow these 5 reflection tips:
1) Memory Trap
Capturing sad moments in MBA essays can seem manipulative. But when you write the first draft, don’t worry about censoring such thoughts.
Remember these 4 points while capturing sad moments:
Thinking about the structure while drafting MBA essays is not recommended but choosing themes that have universal appeal is essential to get the most out of the writing process.
Write freely, but use these three themes when you feel that you are getting lost in the writing process:
F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.
+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)
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